Conrad F Raege
Conrad F Raege is the Commissar of the Ragged Edges unit, and its de facto leader and face. History Early life Conrad's entire life was laid out for her quite early. Michael Raege, a powerful psyker, made the daring show of submitting the military application form for his child a mere few weeks into the pregnancy, claiming to have predicted their fate exactly. However, in his prediction, he made two errors - he did not predict that the childbirth would kill his wife, and he did not predict that the child was female. Refusing to admit his error and a firm misogynist, Michael kept the child's gender a secret, refusing to even change the name "Conrad." Conrad grew up in a tumultuous household, with a father bereaved by grief from both the death of his wife and the failure of his prediction. The unfortunate Raege received the brunt of this, being forced to disguise herself as a boy and frequently receiving physical abuse. She was often psychically conditioned or tortured, such that her mind became noticeably scarred - as did her face, in an effort to make her look less "pretty." Conrad developed a great hatred of psykers as a result, and frequently got into fights. Thankfully, Conrad's enrollment in a male-only military academy ended this abuse, as she was discovered at the age of thirteen and transferred to its female counterpart. This sparked a multi-year investigation into the man, ending in his suicide. In the process, Conrad met Tobias Levy for the first time. First Service For all her issues, Conrad proved an excellent student. She was borderline gleeful at the death of her father, and threw herself into the work of a soldier happily. Before long, she found herself in the Schola Progenium on Heterodyne, in training to become an Imperial Commissar. She graduated with honors, and was assigned to the 113th Kuluthian Boomslangs. Unfortunately, the mental instabilities from years of abuse and combat training did not end upon being given a license to kill. Her already high temper escalated into an outright psychotic streak, and she developed a habit of killing her troops for even the most minor violations of Primer code or any expression of weakness. Over the course of a seven-year campaign, she assisted a number of victories against an ork force, but depleted the Boomslangs to the point that they were no longer a functioning fighting force - culminating in an incident where, during a pivotal battle, she executed 143 soldiers for "cowardice." Heterodyne Conrad was placed on trial for having decimated her own unit, but was ultimately cleared on a technicality - nonetheless, she ended up being stripped of her title, exiled from her homeworld, and transferred back to Heterodyne at Levy's request, this time as a teacher. She spent several decades there, ultimately tutoring a small handful of students: Janus Sharde, a failure who was fragged on Krieg, Jaes Quallen, a perpetual unfortunate, Otto von Remus, a fairly well-rounded if brutal individual, and the infamous John Fuklaw. Miraculously, it was through this teaching that Conrad finally managed to level herself out. Quallen proved so resiliently friendly and moral that she learned a very different hand with him, and found a considerable amount of empathy within her. John, on the other hand, was easily her match for temper and then some, and ended up helping her burn through most of her aggression, an initiative brought together by her suffering a heart attack. Becoming very aware of how little her life had amounted to, she resolved to spend the rest of her days teaching. However, Levy had no interest in letting a Commissar of her skills go to waste, and when he began assembling the Edges unit, at almost the same time that Conrad was free from parole, she became his first choice to lead. Raege was decidedly apprehensive about the job, both from her lack of practice and from her lack of trust in herself, but by the time the unit had formed and begun its first missions, she found herself back in the groove. Leading the Edges Conrad Raege's thirty-year-long campaign with the Edges took her through many challenges, owing to both the diversity of the unit and the many obstacles it was directed towards. Conrad took part in search-and-destroy operations, espionage, straightforward battles, guard missions, investigation, and a thousand other difficulties. Despite her experiences, though, she remained fairly rueful about her position as a Commissar, outright refusing to execute any of the soldiers under her command and even refusing to wear anything but the bare minimum of a Commissar uniform. Levy developed a fondness for sending her odd "gifts", two of which would change her life greatly. The first was the powerful mutant psyker "Cuddles", who ended up becoming a close friend after her rather forceful first meeting. The second was Alice Boone. Boone's background could not have been more opposite Raege's. An extremely weak sanctioned psyker from a noble background, Boone had never been in a real battle until her transfer. When she was assigned as Conrad's aide, she quickly became close to her, being attracted first to her strength and stability in a difficult period, then to her admirable qualities, then to simply herself. Conrad, despite her attitudes towards psykers, love, and civilians, did not take long to become attached to Boone herself, initially being merely protective but soon becoming outright caring. After exchanging chocolates, swapping bodies, and working together on countless missions, Raege's relationship with Boone was the closest it had been with nearly anyone. The Trydusian Incident proved the biggest test of this. Conrad ended up significantly off-course, needing to track a beacon Boone had used. When she arrived, she found her aide commanding a small army and having dismantled much of the operation - and from there, she worked simply as a bodyguard and occasional field commander, taking part in many of the battles involved. Boone won her respect in the Incident, even going so far as to save her life on a few occasions. Twilight Years In the final period of her career, Raege was chosen to lead a campaign against a Tau force, and received a promotion to Lord Commissar in the process. In the final stage of the conflict, the battle moved to Reth, where she personally ensured a pyrrhic Imperium victory in the Battle of Paradise Lost. Raege lost her arm in the battle, and though she finally reaccepted her position as a Commissar, she retired entirely not long after. By the age of 130, Conrad Raege was working once again as a teacher in an orbital station, only occasionally taking small favors for Levy. She has become a benefactor for the similarly-retired Fuklaw, the two now being old friends. It is rumored that she has settled down with a member of the Edges. Personality Raege is blunt, straightforward, determined, utterly loyal, and rather hotheaded. She represents the soldier ideal to a fault, being quick to judge and quicker to retaliate. Uncomfortable with formal and social situations, she is most comfortable in combat or in situations that can be resolved through combat. Though she is charismatic and inspiring on a surface level, she is bad with people in general, and can often exhibit a striking lack of awareness or knowledge compared to her comrades. She has a somewhat melancholic side, and is quick to self-deprecate or denigrate her own skills, especially compared to other Commissars, whom she finds herself lacking against. As a result, she leaves most of the actual decisionmaking to Zune or Levy. Despite this, she has absolutely no tolerance for disrespect of her position or her commands; she may no longer execute people, but she is very willing to beat her own soldiers half to death. Though she has improved greatly, Raege's poor upbringing has left her with a number of issues. The most infamous and consistent of these issues is her lack of awareness or knowledge regarding the topic of love or desire, something she has been unable to properly judge or understand since her youngest days. She has never been in love or any kind of romantic or sexual relationship, though her time with Boone has loosened her up somewhat to the idea. Barring MI-CL, Conrad Raege is generally considered to be the best pure physical fighter of the Edges; both in hand-to-hand with a powerfist and in sword combat with a chain weapon (though she leans towards the former), she is an aggressive, strong, and extremely well-trained combatant. She is, however, something of a second-rate tactician, and her shooting skills are lackluster, with her generally spraying fire in the direction of a target or overcharging her plasma pistol; she has been compared privately to an ork. Her high-quality equipment, though, makes up greatly for this. After overexerting herself in a battle and nearly tearing off one of her arms, Conrad's right shoulder was replaced with an augmentic. Conrad is implied to be a Sigma, giving her an extremely small degree of psychic resistance and a degree of comfortability around nulls like Nada - a thing that she appreciates, as she dislikes people being in her head. She is a talented singer, favoring battle hymns and chants, and knows the Primer by heart. Due to her ties to an Inquisitor, she has made heavy use of juvenats, and is less than half the age she appears to be. Relationships Alice Boone Conrad and Alice have been fairly close from the day they met. In Conrad, Alice sees the firm and redoubtable soldier, in Alice, Conrad sees the innocent civilian who must be protected. While Boone has long since decided that she is in love with her Commissar, Raege's feelings are harder to place. Her feelings towards Boone could accurately be called some form of love, but Raege has taken a very long time to accept this, only truly realizing it by the end of her career. Aside from this, their relationship is often one of surprising intimacy, though with some deliberate distance on the part of both. Though many of Raege's romantic gestures border on accidental, they still often find themselves exchanging gifts, hugging, or dancing. For the most part, Boone is merely happy to do anything she can for her admiree, while Raege attempts to do anything she can to keep Boone out of trouble. John Fuklaw Commissar Fuklaw is one of Raege's oldest living friends, with their relationship forming during the former's training. They had a rough start, frequently finding themselves at loggerheads and their conversations devolving into shouting profanity at a moment's notice; the only thing John appreciated was Raege's short-skirted uniform. Before long, though, they grew on each other, seeing the vulnerabilities in one another, and by his graduation, they had a close bond. They made an effort to carry it on, but by the nature of their jobs, they rarely met again until after they had both retired. Tobias Levy The dandy Inquisitor is Raege's longest-living ally, and that is the nicest thing to be said of their relationship. Conrad has never trusted Levy, seeing him as a manipulative snake who, despite his loyalty, is not to be relied upon. Levy, conversely, sees Conrad as a very talented asset, if a "crazy bitch". Despite this, Levy has stuck up for Conrad on many an occasion, and Conrad has come to his aid with similar frequency. The two simply owe each other too many favors and are too useful to one another for either to ignore the other. Zune Lockwood The Major of the Edges more or less operates as Raege's equal, and one of the few people to maintain that label. Conrad trusts the judgment of the Major far more than her own, due to Zune being considerably more stable, respected, and worldly, even considering her only problem to be her drinking habit. Zune, on the other hand, appreciates the Commissar's company and skillset, but often finds her bluntness and ignorance exasperating. The two are close friends, and tend to confide in each other. Zune is one of the few people that Raege will accept disrespect from, whether in the form of laughter or nicknames or a few insults. Cuddles Jonquil Lancaster's first meeting with Raege was a psychic handshake that shared all their memories with each other. The event threw Raege into shock, but proved to be a good place to start a relationship. Cuddles's extreme battlefield prowess meant that any existing anti-psyker prejudice quickly went out the window, and her understanding of Raege's situation made her an excellent confidante. Unfortunately for Raege, Cuddles has a rather nasty sense of humor, and finds the Commissar to be a good target. This doesn't keep Raege from respecting her, but it does leave Cuddles often laughing at odd moments. Jaes Quallen Commissar "Jellyfish", a sickly voidborn who was about as combat-ready as his nickname, was perhaps the last person in the world that one would think to be Raege's first successful student. Thankfully, his redoubtable moral fiber overcame his complete lack of fitness or bloodlust, and Raege instead changed her feelings of him over his training from disgust to pity to eventually admiration. When he miraculously managed to graduate, she was sad to see him go, thinking he would die quickly. Thankfully, this proved not to be the case.